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Curiosity Killed The Cat

January 17, 2007

After a 14 hour long trip, and a day fuelled by coffee, cigarettes and junk food, we're back in Manchester. Crowley the Cat is beside himself with happiness and neediness (poor little kitty. My heart breaks when I think of the time he spends alone when we're not here), meaning very little sleep as he takes turns in sleeping on our faces. Poor cat.

Still no word about the place we'd like to book for our wedding, which is making me not a little nervous. We don't really have any more chances of looking for other alternatives, so this is it. Damn it. On a good note, the postcards/wedding invitations have been purchased. On a bad note, the sample of the wedding favours (hand painted tile fridge magnets) I ordered that was supposed to look like a swallow ended up looking like a mackerel with wings. So now I either send the lady some drawings of what I want, or I look for other favours. Dang.

Started my diet today. No, wait, you're never supposed to say the D-word! Lifestyle change, then. Whatever. I'm using Weight Loss Resources again, since it's pretty fantastic. The only bad thing (no fault of their own) is that eating ready meals makes it so much easier to count calories, since you don't have to punch in all the ingredients of every recipe you do every day. But then again, I have the time. Just stop being lazy, Vanda.

Not so much with the crafting lately, but I do have a new thang: Project Almanac. It's basically a year-long photoblog, with one photo a day, from Birthday to Birthday. It's been fun so far, and I needed to get into photography again. I needed to do something creative again. So I am!

(The photo was taken a couple of weeks ago at the Moinho de D. Quixote in Sintra. It pretty much illustrates why I love Portugal so much. It's one of my favourite places in the world.)

January 10, 2007

It's been absolute ages since I posted - we've been so busy in the past couple of weeks that until yesterday I hardly checked my e-mail!

Christmas was alright, not much to tell - we went over to my Aunt's house, ate, talked, and missed the ones no longer with us. From this year things will be different, since Cisco's family comes into the picture. We'll just play it by ear!

New Year's Eve was a whole lot of fun, though - Adam and Nia finally joined us in Portugal for some holidays away from foggy London, and we took the opportunity of playing a murder mystery game which was hilarious. As Cisco was playing a Gestapo officer, the last crafting I've done in a while has been an arm band with a swastika. It looks freakishly realistic. So, erm, yeah. (Cisco had a lot of fun making comments about how I, his bride-to-be, dressed as a Russian Countess, was lovingly sewing his Nazi paraphernalia. Men..)

The rest of that week was obviously spent touring Estoril, Cascais, Sintra, Evora and Lisbon, with not a moment to spare, that made us fall in love with the city all over again. (not that we had ever been out of love, but..you know what I mean). I think they liked it, but we have some good-natured ribbing always going on with Lisbon-Manchester rivalry, so they could never be too gushy without loosing face. We still love you, guys!

The wedding preparations are slowly advancing, while our wedding planner (we were forced into this by the paternal entities, but it is useful) negotiates a fantastic place for us. Nothing else is ready, bit I'm a little bit less stressed. Just..a tiny little bit, mind you.

We're going back to Manchester on Sunday, since I wanted to spend my Birthday here, and our Anniversary is the day after and we didn't want to travel then either. I miss my cat, and my stuff, but, as always, this is going to be a little bit hard.

December 17, 2006

Little blog break turned into big blogging break, it seems! I'm still here though, though if by "here" you mean in Manchester, I'm leaving the cold and rain for almost a month starting tomorrow!

We've still been trying to organise as much as we can from here so we don't run around like headless chickens when we get to Portugal. I have the contact of a wedding cake-er (I know, but its funnier to call them that), and spent some enjoyable hours ooh-ing, aaah-ing and blaaargh-ing to pictures of cakes a couple of days ago (even Mr. Cisco joined in the fun) and we now have a pretty good idea of what we want.

I've also designed the invitations (we'll still have to see if they'll turn out cheaper than getting them from that fantastic place I had mentioned before), but because (at least in Portugal) those who pay are the ones who invite, our parents' names are on the invites. Now, Mother never reverted back to her maiden name when she divorced Father, which means that when I sent the invitation to Father he pretty much went white, since my Stepmother is also Mrs. Paulino de Noronha now. Good grief. This will be..difficult. Wish me luck!

Had a really fun night out yesterday - it was too long since we had been to a proper old-fashioned gig. We went with our lovely downstairs neighbours, the fantastic people who look after Crowley when we're not here - my plants always do a Jack-and-the-beanstalk thing with Lisa taking care of them, and the cat wobbles to greet us when we're away for 3 weeks! It was a lot of fun just being out of the house, talking and drinking beer and listening to good music.

Which means, of course, that the last thing I feel like doing today is packing the bags and cleaning the flat and getting everything ready for tomorrow.

December 10, 2006

So, err, after realizing that the Albatroz was probably too small for our needs, me and Cisco took to the web to try and find alternatives, and, boy, there are a lot of beautiful boutique hotels in Lisbon. Unfortunately, however, most of them are so small that they don't even have a dining room, nevermind a restaurant. Ho hum.

There is, however, one. Ever watched Wim Wender's Lisbon Story? If not, you should. If you have, this particular hotel is THAT house. The one where Phillip stays. Restored. That's the view from the terrace up there.

If we get it, it'll be...a dream. A place that's so incredible "us" it's hard to believe. We have to book an appointment to go take a look at the banquet rooms, but if we like them, that's it - we'll stop looking! It's not, as one would say, cheap. But I prefer to maybe cut back on other things (I'm having problems asking my parents for money at 25, although I know they're expecting to pay for it). Things like designing my own invitations. The cardstock might not be as good, but the design will be all ours. And the Swallows theme will be even more adequate, while looking at the Tejo and the White City.

December 07, 2006

(These make brilliantly unique Christmas gifts, by the way)--------------------------------------------------------------

After the whole thing about our wedding being so small, Mr. Cisco decided we should, really, invite Uncles, Aunts and Cousins, which means that we just doubled the number of guests, from 25 to 50. This makes things a little less personal, and me a bit more afraid to make it as quirky as I want it to be, but I'll just carry on. A very nice girl pointed the way today to a company that makes great Invitations, so now I'm a bit torn because I originally wanted to design them myself. Cisco really likes some of them, but not the ones with swallows, which is what I wanted all along. So, I don't know.

The photographer I really wanted kindly refused due to lack of experience, but referred me to a couple of others, and they look great (the example I saw of their wedding photography had a guy I went to High School with. Portugal really is a tiny, tiny village.)

Oh, and music. What about the music? (Cisco apparently wants the Stooges, I want Jean-Baptiste Lully. This is going to be fun!)

Anyway, buy a pendant! Help me pay for my wedding shoes! (they're only £25, I'm cheap but broke like that..)

December 06, 2006

We're a bit short on money this year, so present shopping has been a little tricky. I've bought some small little fun things for some friends and family, made things for others, and am still scratching my head with some!

The fashion for charity gifts hasn't really reached Portugal yet. Or big, huge, charity organisations. It's a strange dichotomy. Catholicism is all about the Good Deeds, as opposed to just Faith (though I'm aware the biggest emphasis on just Faith is mostly evangelical, and not generally Protestant. Don't get me started on Chick's Tracts, that men makes me want to throw up.) The biggest Charity in Portugal is the Holy House of Mercy, who owns and gets all the revenues from the Lottery, etc, and a few more, mostly to do with children.

But we do like our Christmas presents, yes we do. Stig, my Swedish Stepfather, always get a bit shocked at the amount of presents we give each other, and we always get shocked that his grandchildren only get one or two. I mean, as a kid, I got at least 20! And I only have a small family; Cisco told me once how his cousins got all the Barbies and Barbie accessories that had come out that year from all their Uncles and Aunts.

I think it's because Portugal was so "poor but dignified" during the Fascist regime. The Portuguese all learnt to take care of each other, to be as generous as they could with one's family and neighbours. There is a very famous Fado (traditional Lisbon music) called a Portuguese Home, about how there's always some bread and wine on the table, and if someone comes to the door he or she will sit at the table and partake with the rest of the family. The home is poor, but clean, with freshly painted walls, the smell of rosemary, golden grapes and roses on the windowsill, and a St. Joseph painted on the tiles. It's love, bread, wine, caldo verde, and tenderness.

This is all quite fascist, of course. Keep the people happy and content with having no money, but proud of it, and their homes, and their generosity. It's always about getting the poor to help the poor (that's what I also think of Live 8, but anyway). But still, it's a nice sentiment. And while people will stop on the streets to help each other, and give a lot of themselves in every situation, institutional charity has yet to be properly established. There are Swatches for sale every year whose proceeds go towards taking care of ill children, and some other initiatives, but we really need more!

Which leads me to the point of this post. Don't we all have too much stuff? Do we need more? Not really.

December 05, 2006

When Cisco first asked me to marry him, everything was going to be kept simple, and small, and the less hassle the better. Well, it's still small, but I've since started thinking about everything that needs to be decided and, well, simple no more!

It is fun. A whole lot of fun! Yesterday I spent hours on Messenger with my Godmother (or Maid of Honour, or whatever it is in English, and, by the way, isn't she fabulous?) trawling the Web (alright, Ebay, really) for a dress, shoes, and a wig.

That's the dress, right there (alright, a version of it), the shoes are too fabulous to be revealed just yet (she found them, of course), and a wig... well, because it's my wedding, and I want my hair exactly as I want it, which would never happen with this thick, overabundant black mass that grows out of my head. So a wig it is!

My godparents are both make-up artists, so I win at that!

I've sent an e-mail to a fantastic photographer, still awaiting an answer; we have sort of decided on a place (somewhere on one of the Albatroz locations, which are all in Cascais, home); we're less sure of a time, though I'm trying to convince Cisco to push it to May - we can fly down for Easter at the beginning of April, then go again in May, with a little more time and less family commitments; I want to design the cards - a small set of invitations (it's a tiny wedding, but invitations are nice), and a much larger set to mail to everyone who was not invited, inviting them to our house (!) Is this a Portuguese thing? Those, of course, need to be printed and mailed. Then there's the legal stuff that needs to be taken care of no less than a month and no more than three months before - we'll need our parents' help in this, so that means signing documents and getting them authenticated, etc. We need to make the arrangements for our honeymoon, think what I want for a bouquet, purchase the rings, a suit for Cisco, choose the food...

December 04, 2006

Still coughing up a storm, but had a lovely weekend with bestest friend Adam coming over. A nice chicken cacciatore was enjoyed by all, as well as prolific playing of Guitar Hero II!

Now I just have to make up for not writing m thesis in the last couple of days, due to aforementioned coughing, plus sniffling and generally feeling crappy. Special tea helps, though! If any of you is feeling poorly, here's Aunt Vanda's Recipe:

Peel of one lemonCouple of slices of fresh gingerPlenty of honeyShot of whiskyBoiling water

Take before bed. It helps a lot! (and works very well with most people, I just have the worst immune system in the world.)

Finally have the Paraphernalia blog up (sort of) and ventured into the murky depths of Myspace. Yes, I know. Bah, humbug!

Not much else to say for today - many things to do, and as I'm so easily overwhelmed, I'm not doing any of them, but blogging instead. Ha! I'll post photos of the Xmas ornaments for the swap tomorrow, and hopefully update the Etsy shop around Wednesday.

December 01, 2006

Oh dear. I have the flu! I can't have the flu! I have a thesis to write, shops to update, and friends to feed and entertain over the weekend! Not to mention shopping, cleaning, and mailing to do.

The Gods hate me. Gah.

I caught it from Cisco, of course, and it's a pain. Today we were planning to go to the belated launch party for the book there in the picture (buy it!), published by my fantastic ex-supervisor (and Cisco's current one) Alan Williams. He's also very ruggedly handsome. So, um, yeah. Cisco is thinking of inviting him to be his Godfather (Best Man), which would be nice. If it weren't for him, we wouldn't be doing PhDs, or have scholarships, which is what is allowing us to get married in the first place. So, it would be very appropriate.

While going to Portugal made us ill and very tired, it also gave us the opportunity to renew our dinner set, and we flew back with twelve plates in our bags. They are supermarket bought, but special nonetheless - they are printed with motifs taken from Lenços de Namorados (Sweetheart Scarves, I guess). The beautiful image there is a photo I stole (obrigada) from the lovely Rosa Pomar. These are now antiques, and priced as such. They are all beautifully embroidered, with little verses, flowers and birds, and usually very much misspelt, which only adds to the charm. They were made by peasant girls and given to their boyfriends at the turn of the last century, who would wear them as acceptance of their love (or not, if they were interested in another.) They tell stories of loved ones that are sailing the seas, or in the army somewhere, and of sending their love in the wings of little birds, or keys to their hearts.

They're really quite lovely! Must pick up more items from the set during Christmas, I guess.

November 28, 2006

(I know, for all you Americans it was probably even worse, but bear with me)

Twelve hours of travelling on Thursday, two days filled with family and announcements (I'll get to that later), and twelve hours of travelling on Sunday, with Mr. Cisco with the flu. Poor Mr. Cisco. We've slept and slept, ate junk food and watched TV today, trying to get back into the rhythm we'll have to keep in the next few weeks of work, and more work, before we go back to Portugal again in less than a month. (By work I mean PhD, finally getting the shops up, and Portuguese tutoring, which is fun but tiring at the same time)

We took the opportunity that we were seeing our families again (all the grandparents were surprised, only parents knew we were coming) to announce that Mr. Cisco finally decided to make an honest woman out of me, and proposed last week. There's still no date (sometime in the Spring), no place (somewhere by the sea) and no ring (when we somehow have money - I found the perfect one, but it's £700, which makes it impossible. Sniff.) Our families didn't seem surprised at all (we have been living together for 6 years now, after all), but all our friends did, especially the ones I asked to be my Godparents (sort of like Best Man and Maid of Honour, except both Groom and Bride have both). I think it's because we're all 14 in our heads, and certainly not at an age to get marry. I still do! Even Cisco has to be constantly reminded of what number comes after 2 when he's asked for his age (he's apparently stuck at 22, which, I guess, is a good age as any).

We want something very small, and not religious. It'll only be Parents, Grandparents, Brothers and Friends, which are the really important people in our lives. (if we added uncles, aunts and cousins, Cisco's side would swell by 17). So, around 25 people. That won't provide a very big buffer between Mother and Father, but they'll just have to behave (Mother has already told me she'll bring a knife in her garter, which sort of indicates how much she likes her ex.) Even with such a tiny wedding there's a lot of stuff to take care of, which we'll have to do over the Christmas period.

Of course, what Cisco is really excited about is the honeymoon and the stag/hen night (we're having both together.) Ever since he's been to Aswan with his parents he wanted to go back there, and so he's taking me! The Old Cataract hotel seems truly magnificent, and as an avid Agatha Christie fan I'm very happy to spend my honeymoon there.

I'm very happy in general, if tired today. Thanks to all the ladies that left comments! I have a busy week ahead of me, but I really hope I will be able to take the damn photographs once and for all. I've also discovered french knitting, thanks to the lovely Carolyn. I have a few ideas of what to do with it, but does anybody know of a good resource about this?